Devil Diva!
by mermaidcharaakazukin
Summary: Rima has a new chara, who's an evil devil. As Rima uses and trusts Divi, Kusukusu begans to fade away, finally returning to her egg. The only person who knows the truth is Nagihiko. Will Rima let him help her get Kusukusu back?
1. Rima's New Chara

**Hey, mermaidcharaakazukin here! Wow, that's a long name, maybe it was a mistake and i should've gone with something shorter. Oh well! This is my first story, so please just constructive criticism only! I'm a huge Rimahiko fan, so this is my first try at pairing them up. I hope you enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: I wish I owned Shugo Chara, but I don't. All I own is Divi :)**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1: Rima's New Chara<strong>

**Rima POV**

I walked into the Royal Garden, followed by Kusukusu and my newest chara, who'd just hatched this very morning. "Hey, everyone, look at my new chara!" I yelled. I'd always felt kind of boring having just one chara, like a background character, but now I had two, so that made me just as good as purplehead. Actually, better, because one of his charas was a girl.

"Rima never told Yaya she had another chara egg," Yaya pouted, speaking in her annoying third-person way. "Yaya thinks Rima-tan's new chara is cool!" She'd immediately changed her mood in about half a second. Typical Yaya.

"I didn't tell anyone," I replied, which was the truth. I hadn't even brought my chara to school. "I didn't want to jinx it."

"How could you possibly -" Amu started, but then let the sentence drop. "Oh, whatever. What's her name?"

"Divi," I said smugly. "She's sort of evil." I had no idea I wanted an evil would-be self, except for that one night where I had curled up in a ball on my bed, when my parents were fighting and wished that I was evil so I wouldn't have any feelings and not care at all. But I knew Divi was evil because (and definitely not because she told me, because only an evil idiot would do that) she'd shoved Kusukusu in my mom's breakfast soup (yeah, my mom is odd, okay, I know!). Poor Kusukusu was still dripping wet, but at least she was warm.

"You wanted an evil would-be self?" Purplehead asked, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that just you already?" Well. Of course purplehead would think, but I couldn't wait to character change with Divi and annoy the hell out of him all day, everyday. Okay, maybe THAT was why Divi had been born.

"Don't speak to Rima like that," Divi snapped at him. "Chara change!" She'd done this to me in the morning too, when my mom had started yelling at me for throwing things in her soup (not that she saw Kusukusu), so I knew a cute pair of little devil horns came up out of my hair when Divi character changed with me. Before I could stop myself, she kicked purplehead in the place where - well, where people shouldn't be kicked.

Purplehead looked like he was in pain, so I did what I always did when that happened - snickered, and then insulted him. For once, someone snickered with me (Divi, obviously). "Are you really that weak, purplehead?" Divi asked innocently, using the nickname I'd given him. I hadn't told her the name so she probably only knew it because she was a part of me. I sort of wanted to be the one who insulted him, though, so I said nothing.

Tadagay cleared his throat. "Can we continue with the meeting, please?" Divi snickered again and said, "We can't continue what we haven't started, kiddie king." Okay, now I was really confused. How the hell did she know IKUTO'S nickname for Tadagay?

"Ignore her," Kusukusu said, sounding very un-Kusukusu. "Divi's a devil and a jerk."

"Aren't you sort of insulting Rima-chan when you say that about her would-be self?" asked purplehead, to which Divi replied, "Don't call her Rima-chan, crossdresser. She hates you." Of course, that's 100% true, but only I am allowed to call Nagihiko purplehead, crossdresser, and to tell him I hate him. Just who does Divi think she is?

Oh yeah. Technically, she's me.

"Can we START THE MEETING NOW?" demanded Tadagay, raising his voice for maybe the first time. Ha! I guess Divi gets on his nerves ... yay me!

"Sure, prince," Divi said, taking the words straight out of my mouth. Admittedly, that's a little annoying. Is there any point in me being here if Divi is just going to say and do everything for me? But this WILL get all of us a little five minute live entertainment, so I guess I can overlook it. I'll just give her the rules when we get home.

***** TIME SKIP *****

I threw my bag on the floor the moment I walked through the door and screamed, "I'M HOME!" to no one in particular. As usual, I'm home alone, but at least I have two hours of peace to get my homework done before my parents come home and start threatening to kill each other, right? Wrong.

I was just about to start my algebra homework (it's my worst subject, so I always do it first because if I'm not done before my parents get home, there's no way I'll ever be able to finish) when I got a text from Amu.

_Rima, there's a whole bunch of X-eggs down by the park. Nagi, Yaya and Tadase r already here. Hurry up and get here, we need Juggling Party! - Amu_

"Come on, Divi, Kusukusu," I grumbled, slightly annoyed that I'm going to lose about an hour of hour of quietness to do my homework. "We've got X-eggs to purify."

Kusukusu, for the first time today, smiles. I don't think she really likes Divi, but they are sort of opposites in personality, so that's probably why. "Yay! Let's go, Rima-tan!" She speeds ahead, I follow her, and Divi reluctantly trails behind. You'd think she'd be excited, seeing as this will be the first time she sees us purify some X-eggs.

When we get there, I can tell there are a lot more X-eggs than 'a bunch'. Twelve are chasing purplehead, Amu is failing at purifying, say, another twelve, Yaya and her little duckies are screaming their heads off in fear and Tadagay is just standing there, protected by his Royal Crown. This does not look good.

"Okay, Kusukusu, let's go," I said, ready to help them out here. A Juggling Party will round them up and let Amu purify them easily so that's just what we'll do. Thankfully, this will only take about ten minutes at the most.

"That's not fair!" Divi cried out suddenly. "Character transform with me! You've done it a million times with Kusukusu and I've just hatched. I want a turn!" I glanced at Kusukusu, who obviously wants me to character transform with her, but it would be fair to do it with Divi just once.

"You don't mind, do you, Kusukusu?" I asked. Of course, I really want to know what a character transform with Divi will look like, and how powerful I'll be. Kusukusu just sighs and says, "Okay, Rima-tan. But next time is my turn." She does not look at all pleased.

I nod, thinking it will probably be fair to alternate character transforming with them (how does Amu deal with this? She's got FOUR charas!) I motioned to Divi and then say, "My heart: Unlock!" Divi returns to her egg, which is bright red with devil tridents and combat boots all over it.

"Charanari: Devil Diva!" we shout together, and I look down to see I'm wearing a strapless short red dress, that's slightly poofy at the bottom, with a pair of black combat boots that go all the way up to my knees. My hair is half-up, half-down and wavy more than its normal curly. I'm pretty sure that I look good.

My character transform finally makes the other guardians realize that I'm here. "Rima-tan!" Yaya shrieks happily, probably forgetting her fear and her little duckies. "Yaya thinks you look very pretty!"

"Is that a character transform with Divi?" Amulet Heart asked me, ducking from the attacking X-eggs. I nodded, thinking that its sort of obvious, since it's obviously not Clown Drop. "Well, I hope it's got some good moves," Amulet Heart shrieks, as the X-eggs come stampeding back at her. "Help me!"

_Divi, _I think, realizing that I don't know any of Devil Diva's moves or what they do, _um, help me out here! How do I help Amu?_

_You don't need to help Amu, _Divi scolds me, from inside my own head, _you can do this yourself. Just let me take over, and I'll do my thing!_

Well, since I have no idea what to do when I'm Devil Diva, it can't hurt. _Do your thing, Divi, _I think, giving her free rein to take over. Suddenly, I feel way more confident than before, and also just a tiny bit cocky, since I can't help thinking I'm-hot-and-I-know-it. But that's just because Divi's sort of controlling me right now.

"Devil Trident!" I shout, and somehow throw a random trident I didn't know I had at the X-eggs. It goes straight at them, but as they try to scatter, the trident circles around them and cages them in, just like Juggling Party. The X-eggs are trapped.

"Thanks, Rima," Amulet Heart shouts at me, getting ready to use her Open Heart move. "You should probably go get the X-eggs that are chasing Nagi now. He looks pretty tired."

I tried to turn around to face the direction purplehead and the other X-eggs were in, but it seemed I couldn't move. Divi wasn't giving me back my control. "Devil's Kiss!" I shout, completely unwillingly, and a red heart comes out of my hands, just like the one that comes out of Amu's when she does Open Heart. Could it be ... is Divi really powerful enough to be able to purify X-eggs like Amu?

Suddenly, everyone has stopped what they're doing and watching my Devil's Kiss attack come closer to the trapped X-eggs. It's going pretty fast, but it seems like time has slowed down for all of us, and that the red heart is just inching along. But then it makes contact - and every single one of the X-eggs shatter into a million little pieces.

Amu and I gasp simultaneously. She turns to look at me, her expression first bewildered, and then angry. It's just like the first time we fought an X-egg together, and I shattered it without letting Amu purify it. But this time, I hadn't meant to do it. This was Divi's fault.

"Rima?" she said simply, but I could tell the question was loaded. It seemed that she thought I had done this on purpose, and everyone else probably thought that too. No one had heard me give Divi free reign, so no one would know that Divi had done the Devil's Kiss attack without permission.

I kick Divi out of my heart, and I land back on the ground as normal, ice queen Rima. "Amu, I'm so sorry," I cried out. "I swear, I didn't know that would happen. I gave Divi control because I'd never been Devil Diva before, and she didn't know you could purify eggs. I really didn't mean to!"

Thankfully, Amu looks as though she believes me. "Okay," she says, but she doesn't exactly smile. "I'll get the other X-eggs, and you should probably explain to Divi how we do things here." I nod.

Amu turns her attention to the X-eggs still attacking purplehead, and me and Kusukusu turn on Divi. "What did you think you were doing?" Kusukusu snapped before I could say anything.

"You wanted to take care of the X-eggs, didn't you?" Divi shrugs, completely calm. "So I took care of them."

"That's not what I meant!" I tell her, angrily. "Amu can purify the X-eggs, and THAT'S how we take care of them. We are _never _using that Devil's Kiss move again!"

"I can't believe you're not even sorry," adds Kusukusu, and I have to agree with her. Divi doesn't look sad or apologetic, just eerily uncaring. "You just destroyed twelve people's dreams forever!"

"Are you going to apologize?" I demanded, figuring that making Divi apologize - which I can already tell is something she hates to do - will stop her from doing this ever again. "You _are_ sorry, right, Divi?"

Divi shrugs. "Yeah, whatever," she says, unconvincingly.

I sigh, figuring that's the best I'll get out of her. "Come on," I say, dejectedly, because I feel like Yaya and Tadagay are staring at me, as if wondering what's wrong with me and my chara.

"She just destroyed _twelve X-eggs_," I hear Yaya whisper.

"And she's blaming it on her chara," Tadagay says back, sounding slightly disgusted. But he only sounds that way with Ikuto!

"See what you've done?" I snap at Divi as we shamefully leave the park. "Everyone hates me because of what you did. You could at least feel bad about it."

"What's the point about feeling bad about _anything_?" Divi says. "It's already been done, feeling bad won't change it. Emotions don't matter, Rima. Especially not laughing." She threw a dirty look at Kusukusu. "Trust will only lead to backstabbing, and that to revenge. It's better to keep all your secrets to yourself, and to not even have friends. You're an ice queen, you already know that. I'm the chara that will help you make your life better. See, your emotions - your _love _- for your parents makes you feel bad when they argue. But they don't care about you, so you shouldn't care about them. No one cares about you, so you should care for no one."

Then she looks at me, directly into my eyes, and I'm forced to stare into her red ones. "But I _am _you, Rima. The perfect you. I'm the only one who cares about you, who can you make your life better. Who can make _you _better. Trust me, Rima. Together we can create a perfect world for the two of us."

Divi does a 180, and puts on a burst of speed, flying far ahead of me, leaving me alone to think about her icy cold speech. But as I'm thinking, I realize that everything she's said is, well, true. Divi is my would-be self, after all. She knows me, she knows what I want. She knows what I _need, _and even better, she knows how to get it. Divi is my chara ... and I can trust her.

But what I don't realize, not until it's too late, is that Divi meant it when she said _"Together we can create a perfect world for the two of us,"_. Which meant it was a world without Kusukusu.

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><p><strong>Sorry about the lack of Rimahiko there, people. I sort of wanted a slighty dramatic, foreshadow-y ending (yeah, I've been listening way too much to my English teacher's literary elements speeches) and I sort of wanted readers to just see what Divi was really like, because that is very crucial to the plot (yup, I've been listening to closely to my English teacher's speeches). Please read and review!<strong>

**Thanks so much! - mermaidcharaakazukin**


	2. The End of Kusukusu?

**Hey, mermaidcharaakazukin back again! This chapter doesn't have much Rimahiko in it either, but I did say that this story was part adventure too, so just think of the first couple of chapters as the adventure part okay? It all leads up to the romance I promise! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Shugo Chara (but Divi would be in it if I did). All I own is Diva, and also Devil Diva.**

**Rima POV**

Purplehead made cookies for the Royal Garden meeting, but I wasn't touching them, only because I never ate anything he made ever. It was one of my unwritten rules of How to Hate Nagihiko. Especially since he took the whole cooking thing very seriously and hated when people wouldn't eat/disliked his food.

I was seriously considering breaking the rule though, because I was starving. Divi, who I was starting to think of as a mind reader, kept shaking her head whenever I was tempted to reach for one of the hot, chewy cookies. And then, in a move completely unexpected by all of us, she grabbed the plate of cookies, threw them onto the ground and proceeded to rip them into cookie crumbs.

"Rima," Yaya said loudly, "Yaya wants to know what's wrong with your chara." I bristled at this comment, considering that Yaya's chara was an annoying baby with a bib and footie pajamas and everything.

"Chara change," Divi snapped, obviously wanting to defend herself as loudly as possible – which meant she had to do it through me.

"What's wrong with your chara, says the freak who talks in third-person, annoys the hell out of EVERYONE and has a freaky chara who pretends it's a baby!" Divi, or rather, I, exploded. "You want to know what's wrong with my chara? Why don't you take some time to figure out what's wrong with _yours_?" And then my devil horns disappeared just as fast as they'd appeared.

No one seemed to notice that I'd been character changed though, as Yaya promptly burst into her baby tears. "What is _wrong _with you, Rima?" Amu hissed at me, trying to comfort Yaya at the same time. "First you destroy all those X-eggs and then you get these random mood swings all of a sudden and make Yaya cry! Seriously, I thought you were losing your little mean façade and starting to fit in with us! I shouldn't have made that mistake, huh?"

Hearing that out of _anyone _would make a decent person (which I did like to think of myself as) feel bad, hearing that out of your so-called best friend made me feel even worse. "I was character changed," I protested, "with Divi."

"There you go again," Tadagay interrupted loudly, butting into a conversation no one had asked him to, "blaming Divi. Just because she's a devil chara doesn't mean that she's really evil! And Divi's your would-be self, so anything you do with her is just something you might've done on your own anyway." The stupid blond gay boy was making me really, really angry, and I had a feeling Divi could sense that, too. But unlike Kusukusu, who knew to keep her distance when I was mad, she decided to character change with me again.

My devil horns were back. "Same to you, _Tadagay,"_ I hissed, breaking the unspoken rule between the guardians, which was to never call him by our special nickname to his face. "So maybe you should think about your own would-be self before you insult other people about theirs. You want to be a king? Please, just try and get over yourself. You'll never be a king, or a prince, or, the way this is going, a boyfriend. You actually wonder why Amu dumped your sorry ass? I could give you a million reasons why just off the top of my head!" Away went the devil horns.

Tadagay looked close to tears now too, and immediately I felt guilty, even though it had really been Divi doing all the trash-talking. Amu was glaring at me even harder now, probably because I'd dragged her name into my Tadagay-bashing paragraph. Also because it was probably true as well. Well, not the _real _reason (which was because she was in love with Ikuto – **A/N Yeah, I'm an Amuto fan too) **but part of the main thing.

"Rima," Amu said finally, "maybe you should just go home. I don't think any of us want you here right now."

I opened my mouth to tell her I was sorry, that I didn't mean anything of what I had just said (which Divi had forced me to) and that I really wanted to stay in the Royal Garden and finish the meeting with everyone else, but Divi started talking instead.

She flew right in front of my face, so no one could see my angry expression at her when I heard what she was saying. "Good, 'cuz Rima didn't even want to be at this stupid meeting with you losers anyway. She doesn't even want to be friends with you guys anymore, you all are just bringing her down." When Kusukusu opened her mouth to interrupt Divi, Divi just barged on, with an, "_Especially _Kusukusu. Rima only wants _me _as her chara, you know."

Divi flew down the stairs and right to the fountain. "C'mon, Rima," she yelled forcefully, "let's blow this freakshow before someone thinks we're part of it." And then she flew right out of the Royal Garden.

I took the hint from everyone – which was that no one was looking at me, or even saying, 'Amu was kidding, of course we don't want you to go' – and grabbed my stuff to go. I took a deep breath, walked down the stairs as slowly as I could, waiting for someone to call me back. No one did. I picked up speed, followed reluctantly by Kusukusu.

"Are you sad, Rima-tan?" Kusukusu asked me, as we walked (well, she flew). Divi was way ahead of us, but I was in no hurry to catch up to the devil chara. "Look, a funny face!" And she pulled at her cheeks, making her mouth very, very wide.

It was a cute attempt to cheer me up, but it was the same thing she always did when she was sad. And I was sort of sick of it. "Why can't you say or do anything useful?" I snapped at her, taking my anger out on the wrong chara. "All you do when I'm sad is that ridiculous funny face, and you know, it's never made me laugh once! Couldn't you try something new or just give up on that stupid tactic already? You're supposed to be my would-be self, but I'd hope I could make a better clown that. But it probably wouldn't even be heard, considering the pathetic amount you can do!"

And with that I stormed ahead, catching up to Divi, who was grinning devilishly. I was positive she'd heard every word I'd said to Kusukusu. "Nice one," she said to me, unnecessarily loudly. She probably wanted Kusukusu to hear us being mean about her. "I didn't even have to character change with you for that. You're getting closer and closer to being me, Rima!"

That didn't make me feel better at all. Divi was a jerk, a devil, an awful chara who was completely ruining my life. At the moment, my best friend hated me, the other Guardians were pretty sure I was a bully and completely evil, my chara thought I hated her, and the other one was a devil who'd made all of that happen. I didn't want to be like Divi – or did I? She was my would-be self, after all.

As if she could read my mind, Divi flew right next to my ear. "You know you want to be like me," Divi said quietly. "Why do you think I was born after Kusukusu? Kusukusu isn't who you want to be anymore. Clowns are stupid, that's why that chara can't even make you laugh. And look, your friends don't even trust you; they didn't believe you when you told them it was me who made you destroy those X-eggs. They didn't believe I character changed with you to hurt Tadagay's feelings and make Yaya cry. Didn't I say they didn't care about you? I'm telling you, I'm the only one who cares, and I'm the chara you want to be. Not Kusukusu. And the sooner you start listening to me, the sooner we can make your life better. We can do _anything_ together, Rima. Devil Diva can be unstoppable."

"You can make my life … better?" I echoed, forgetting the fact that my life had been practically perfect (except for my parents fighting all the time) before Divi had ruined my friendships and those X-eggs and my relationship with Kusukusu.

"Better than it ever was, Rima," Divi replied confidently. "You want friends? I'll get you better friends than those lame guardians. I can get you to stop caring whether your parents are fighting or not. You'll be prettier, more confident, and no one will ever be able to bring you down, because we'll be the only ones who know your secrets. Boys will want to date you and girls will want to be you. And not just the ones you already know, _every single one in the world._"  
>"Every one in the world?" I repeated. "No way … that's not possible, Divi."<p>

Divi smiled evilly. "Nothing is impossible, Rima. We can make anything you want happen. All you have to do is listen to me. Just go along with what I say, and only for a little while. Everything will change for the better. And all you have to do is listen to me."

_All I have to do is listen to Divi. All I have to do is listen to Divi. All I have to do is listen to Divi. _It didn't seem like a bad deal for me, and Divi was obviously smart, and cunning. She wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"Okay," I found myself saying. "I can do that. I'll listen to you."

Divi's smile was huge. "I'm glad you finally came around, Rima. Things will finally start happening to you like they were supposed to. I'm going to turn you into a real Devil Diva."

**Nagihiko POV**

"Um," I said, watching Yaya cry uncontrollably, even though Rima, Divi and Kusukusu had left about five minutes ago already. "Yaya, I think you should just come down."  
>"You're taking <em>Rima's <em>side?" Amu asked incredibly. "What, do you like her or something?"

"No!" I snapped, even though I really should have expected the question. It was such an Amu thing to ask. "What if Divi really had character changed with her, and so she wasn't the one talking when she said those things to Yaya and Tadase?"

"She called me _Tadagay!_" snapped Tadase. "That's absolutely unforgivable! What kind of awful person would call me that?"

I refrained from telling him that all of his so-called friends called him that behind his back, except for Ikuto, who preferred the name Kiddy King, which he even called Tadase to his face.

"Tadagay isn't so bad!" Yaya sniffled, thankfully having just enough brain cells not to tell him we all called him that too. "Rima-tan said Yaya and Yaya's chara Pepe are freaky! Yaya thinks this is not nice!" But she was getting over it, because she'd called Rima-chan Rima-tan. When Yaya was mad, she never used honorifics.

"So you guys aren't mad at her?" Amu asked again.

"No," Tadase sighed, sort of dramatically. If Rima-chan were here, she'd say he was being '_such _a drama qu-king." "Compared to what she calls Fujisaki-san, I'd say we got it easy."

I couldn't help but think _you got that damn right, Tadagay, _because it was, in fact, true. Character changed with the psycho devil Divi or not, Rima-chan constantly called me crossdresser or purplehead, told me she hated me (for no reason at all, I might add) whenever she got the chance, and never ate anything I cooked in fear of 'food poisoning', she said. But despite all this – and what I'd just told Amu – I did like her. As more than a friend, anyway.

"Oh, okay," Amu breathed a sigh of relief. "Because I was sort of thinking I was a bit harsh on her, especially since it does seem like the kind of thing that Divi would do, just to make Yaya cry and Tadag-se mad, you know? And her excuse for destroying those X-eggs was _very _legit."

"Legit?" Yaya commented. "Yaya does not think that is a word."

"A celebrity said legit," Amu retorted, "on live TV, so that's good enough for me." Amu's cool and spicy attitude was back, even though all of us here in the Royal Garden knew that wasn't her real self.

"Okay, okay," Yaya raised her hands up in surrender form. "Yaya admits defeat!" Which sounded very Kukai-ish, which was to be expected considering how much time Yaya was now spending with him, in the hopes of catching him and Utau going on a secret date.

"So, we forgive Rima," Amu concluded. "I'm going to call her, because she's probably really hurt about what I said to her, and very worried that we don't like her anymore."

She picked up her phone and began to dial Rima's number.

**Rima's POV**

Divi, Kusukusu and I were at the mall. Kusukusu was only there with us because I needed two hands to shop, which meant that she was holding my phone, since my school uniform had no pockets for it.

Divi had insisted that I was going to need a whole new wardrobe since I was going to be like her, which meant nothing pink or light blue or lavender or anything cute and childish (which sort of meant that everything I owned besides my school uniform was now unwearable). Almost everything Divi had picked out for me was red or black, but I did have a lot of pairs of combat boots now, which I found very cool.

We were shopping for dresses – the only ones Divi deemed acceptable were very short, the longest being about mid-thigh – when my phone rang, and a startled Kusukusu nearly dropped it. Actually, she DID drop it, but Divi got it so there was no harm done. However, Divi started ranting to Kusukusu about what an idiot she was that she couldn't even do a simple job like hold a phone (I had tried to tell Divi that Kusukusu couldn't hold it because it would look like the phone was floating in midair, but Divi had brought up the whole 'listen to me' thing, so I let it go) while I checked the caller ID.

It was Amu.

"It's Amu," I said to Divi. "Answer, it, right?"

Divi had made a whole set of rules for me that I had to follow in order to get the perfect life that I wanted and to be like Divi. It sort of felt like Divi was controlling my life to me, but I was going along with it. I would do anything for a perfect life.

"No!" Divi snapped, at the exact same time as Kusukusu cried out, "Yes!"

The devil chara shot the clown chara a disbelieving glare. "No one even wants you hear, freak," she snapped at Kusukusu. "Rima wants to be like _me, _not a clown. She's following my instructions now, and I say don't answer."

But Kusukusu wasn't just going to give up. "Rima-chan!" she shouted. "I've been your chara longer than Divi! You know you can always trust me and that I'll always be there for you! I've always tried to be helpful and give you good advice, and I say you answer the phone! That's your best friend, Amu, and you know she's calling to apologize. You don't need Divi, your life is perfect the way it is!"

"You're wrong," I told Kusukusu. "My parents hate each other. They don't care about me, sometimes they forget that I even exist! My friends don't even care either, if Amu thinks she can say those awful things to me and then just call and expect me to grovel at her feet, thanking her for being my friend again! _You _don't even care about me, Kusukusu, you just don't me to love Divi more than you. But I DO! Because Divi cares, Divi wants to make my life better! I HATE YOU, KUSUKUSU!"

For the first time in the entire time I'd had Kusukusu as my chara, she looked sad. And scared – well, I'd seen her scared before, but this time she looked scared of me. And, was this possible? Was I seeing dresses through her body? No, she wasn't going transparent! That wasn't even possible right?

"Kusukusu –" I started, about to say that I didn't mean any of what I'd just said, when Divi quickly interrupted with "Chara change!"

"Get out of here, you useless clown freak!" I found myself screaming at Kusukusu. "You're an idiot, a moron, and I wasn't character changed when I said everything I said before. I'm just helping Rima express her feelings fully. She doesn't want you, she doesn't need you and she definitely doesn't care about you! Why don't you just go back where you came from, huh? Get in your egg and stay there! Forever!"

Kusukusu's eyes widened in shock, in alarm and in … sadness. And before I could get rid of my devil horns, or tell Kusukusu that Divi was crazy, that I was wrong to want to be her and to trust her, Kusukusu – poor, unloved, transparent Kusukusu – flew right out of the store, probably through the mall, and all the way back to my house.

I rounded on Divi. "How could you?" I demanded. "Do you know what you've just done?"

Divi smiled evilly back at me. "Yes," she admitted cheerfully. "That was the one thing holding you back from becoming a full Devil Diva. And I've gotten rid of it for you. Forever."

_Forever? _I thought. _Kusukusu is gone … forever?_

Divi glanced at my facial expression, and instead of doing what Kusukusu would have – "Are you sad, Rima-chan? Look, a funny face! Everything will be okay, I promise, Rima-chan!" - Divi laughed. Long and hard and loud, right in my face.

The devil chara – _my _devil chara – stood in front of my face, laughing her ice cold heart out at me.

***** TIME SKIP *****

I stayed with Divi and paid for everything she'd picked out for me at the mall. I had no idea what had just happened, or what I should do anymore. Only one thing stood out in my mind – finding Kusukusu, making sure she was okay, apologizing and telling her she was the chara most important to me, the one that I really wanted to be.

So I rushed home, ignoring Divi's screams of "Slow down!" and "Let's stop somewhere, I'm hungry!" and ran straight up to my room, followed angrily by Divi. I wanted to check on Kusukusu, and to see if she'd come home or if she had run away – like Utau's chara, El, had one day.

And then I saw Kusukusu's egg, closed, like it was when Kusukusu was sleeping, or if she wanted to be alone. Of course she wanted to be alone, after the things Divi had made me say to her.

I picked up the egg to open it and apologize, to get Kusukusu to love me again, but the egg wouldn't open. It was stuck, like someone had glued the halves together. But this only happened when an egg had just come out and the chara hadn't been born yet … or when the chara wasn't believed in and was going to return to the owner's heart.

"Kusukusu!" I screamed. "Kusukusu! Please, come out of your egg! I'm sorry! I love you! Please, Kusukusu, come out!"

But the egg wouldn't budge or shake and I couldn't hear any sounds from inside. Suddenly, I couldn't even remember what Kusukusu's giggle sounded like.

I turned around, and saw Divi, looking at me and then at Kusukusu's whole egg. She looked straight at me, made eye contact, and smiled. It was an evil, devilish smile, that was too big for her tiny face.

That was when I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life.


	3. Kusukusu Hates School

**Hey! I'm back (bet you didn't miss me). Sorry the update is so late, my little cousins came over and they never give me a break when they're here, so I had no time to get online and write/upload this chapter. So, Nagihiko gets a little more involved in the story plot this time, which I think people who were reading this just for the Rimahiko will enjoy. So, enjoy chapter three of 'Devil Diva'. (Which reminds me, is that a good name or a really stupid one?)**

**DISCLAIMER: I, mermaidcharaakazukin, don't own Shugo Chara or Rima (sadly), just Divi (which is also sad cuz that chara's a psycho).**

**Rima POV**

I'm heading to school with just one chara, like I used to do before Divi was born. I really miss how my life was before Divi was born actually – just me and Kusukusu, who was a decent chara that actually did care about me and someone that I really did want to be. Of all the people in the world, why did I have to get stuck with a chara like Divi?

Because of Divi, life like I knew it is over – my friends hate me (which could have been fixed if Divi would've let me pick up the phone … and Kusukusu had encouraged me to do, and then I told her I hated her; I'm such a bad person!), Kusukusu has returned to her egg and now its whole again, meaning she can't come out, and my other chara is an evil devil who's trying to make me like her.

And I know the guardians are going to ask questions when I get to school without Kusukusu. None of them like Divi, I'm pretty sure, and honestly, neither do I anymore. They can all hate me for the rest of their lives (which I don't want, but I'm just saying) as long as I get Kusukusu back.

But it looks like that's never going to happen.

Sure, I could just blame Divi for tricking me and character changing with me and making Kusukusu think I hate her, but it's partially my fault for LETTING Divi trick me in the first place. She said she'd make my life perfect, but ironically, she's turned it into a hell where she's in charge.

Divi is the devil. Literally and figuratively (my English teacher would be proud).

Shit. I don't even have an excuse for why Kusukusu isn't even here, since charas don't get sick.

**Nagihiko's POV**

We were having a morning meeting today, and Rima-chan was late. Everyone else was here (and, I was glad to see, eating my breakfast coffee cake) and admittedly, waiting a little impatiently for Rima.

Amu had been really worried when she'd called Rima six times, and the little blonde hadn't picked up. I'd been worried too, but I wasn't going to say anything. I'd just reassured Amu that Rima was fine.

It looked like Amu was getting worried again, probably thinking that Rima had gotten kidnapped or something, just like she had when she was little. But I had a feeling that Rima had probably just overslept and was running to school now (but she ran really slowly, so that would take a while).

Then Rima did show up, panting, followed (unfortunately) by Divi. Kusukusu was nowhere to be seen. I opened my mouth to ask why, but Amu beat me to it. "Rima, where's Kusukusu?"

For a second, Rima said nothing. Then she said, "Kusukusu said she hates school, so she doesn't want to come with me anymore."

I didn't believe that for a second. "What about the Guardian meetings?" I asked her. "Don't you need Kusukusu for that?"

Rima glared at me. "I have Divi, don't I?" She didn't look particularly happy about that, though. I glanced over at Divi, who looked _very _happy. She was so different from Kusukusu – the clown chara was never happy if Rima wasn't.

As Rima took a seat, Tadase went over what we knew about Easter and the Embryo and also stressed very loudly that if we destroyed X-eggs instead of purifying them, we were helping Easter with their plans, not stopping them. He said all this while pointedly looking Rima in the eye.

I felt bad for her. She'd told us that Divi had done it, not her. All of us knew that when our charas character changed/character transformed with us, we had practically no control. But everyone was still acting like Rima had done it on purpose. Divi wasn't helping, either, just being mean and rude to everyone, not even saying that she was the one who had destroyed the X-eggs. In fact, Divi didn't even look as though she felt bad about it. But maybe she was hiding it, like how Rima hid everything under her icy façade.

The meeting had to be cut short because we had to go into the school for class, and we hadn't been able to start at the right time because Rima was late. She didn't apologize, though, just grabbed her stuff and stormed into the school, followed by Divi. I glanced at Rhythm, who said, "Something's definitely not cool there". Honestly, that made no sense, but Rhythm liked to put the word 'cool' into everything he said, so I just ran to catch up with Rima. I wanted to know the real reason why Kusukusu wasn't here.

"Rima-chan, wait up!" I yelled, but only out of common courtesy. I easily caught up with her in about a second.

"What, purplehead?" she snapped. As usual, she didn't look at all happy to see me.

"Yeah, purplehead," Divi echoed, sticking her tongue out at me. "Scram."

"So, what's really wrong with Kusukusu?" I asked conversationally, ignoring Divi. We only had five minutes before we were late for class, I couldn't afford to stall with pointless small talk.

"Nothing's _wrong _with her," Rima snapped. "I told you, she just hates school."

"Since when?" I asked. "She never acted like she hated school."

"Considering that she's _my _chara," Rima hissed at me, "I think she would be more likely to tell me that she hated school than you." Of course, that was probably true, but I still doubted that happy-go-lucky, always laughing Kusukusu hated school. She was friends with all of the other charas, and the place she saw them most was school. So that made no sense at all.

"You're lying," I said simply.

Rima bristled. "How would you know?"

Divi sat on Rima's shoulder, looking as comfortable as though she'd always sat there. But that was usually Kusukusu's spot, and it looked wrong with Divi on it. She gave me a death glare, one so scary that if looks could kill, I would have dropped dead. "Why don't you just leave Rima alone, crossdresser?" she hissed at me. "No one wants you here, most especially Rima. She's fine, Kusukusu's fine, so just leave us alone."

Now I knew for sure something was definitely wrong. Divi was defending Rima, and almost everything that came out of her mouth was a lie. Which meant Rima wasn't fine, and neither was Kusukusu. And Rhythm, who normally flirted with every girl chara he knew, was looking at Divi as though she was a dead body.

Ignoring Divi _again_, I answered Rima's question. "The same way I knew you were fake crying. I can tell when you're lying."

"Whatever," Divi said rudely. "Rima's not going to tell you anything, anyway. Kusukusu's not here, now get over it." She flew off ahead, as if confident that Rima was going to stay silent. But knowing her, she probably would.

Rima looked nervous for a second, then scared … and then she hissed, "Rhythm, go stall Divi." When Rhythm didn't move, she even choked out a "Please." I'd never heard Rima say please before, so I helped her out.

"Rhythm, just go do it," I told him, and he nodded at me, then flew off. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong with Kusukusu now, Rima?"

She didn't answer my question. "When Temari went back into her egg, how did you get it to hatch again?" she asked me. She looked sort of desperate, like if I couldn't give her an answer, all hope was lost.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "I guess I just started believing in the dream I had that caused Temari to be born again."

"So that meant at one point, you stopped believing in what Temari represented to you?" Rima urged.

"I guess so," I replied nervously, "and when Temari went back into her egg, Rhythm's egg was born."

Her eyes widened. "What does this have to do with anything, though?" I asked her. She hadn't cared at all about Temari returning to her egg when it had actually happened – but I couldn't exactly blame her, as she hadn't met Temari before she re-hatched again – unless… "Rima, did Kusukusu go back into her egg?"

"No," Rima cried quickly, a little too quickly.

"She did, didn't she?" I said. "How did it happen?"

"Divi," whispered Rima. "She character changed with me and told Kusukusu I didn't want to be like her anymore. Then Kusukusu flew off, and when I came back home, her egg was whole again."

"So this is Divi's fault," I commented, and surprisingly, Rima burst into tears. It seemed as though she'd been holding them back all day, and she just couldn't do it anymore.

"Everything is Divi's fault right now," Rima sobbed. Not knowing what to do, I hugged her, and she didn't pull away – well, not for a few seconds at least. "You can't tell anyone," she said to me.

"Why not?" I asked. "They'd help you."

"They won't _believe _me," sniffled Rima. "Divi planned that, I think. They didn't believe it was Divi who made Yaya cry and break the X-eggs, so why would they believe that Divi put Kusukusu back into her egg? I'm not even sure why you believe me."

Well, it was partly because I'd sort of been in the dilemma where one of my charas had gone back into their egg (but Rhythm wasn't an evil psycho who had CAUSED that), partly because she was crying real tears (and so, couldn't exactly be lying) and partly because I liked her. But I wasn't telling her the last part.

"Instinct," I told her, deciding that was the best way to put it. "I'll help you get Kusukusu back, Rima-chan."

"How are you going to do that?" Rima asked, looking at me disbelievingly. "I don't think Kusukusu is ever coming back, pur- Nagihiko." I had to smile at that, despite everything she'd just told me. It was probably the first time ever Rima had called me by my actual name.

"No idea," I said honestly, not wanting her to think I was going to be able to magically fix things. "But we'll figure this out when we get there."

"_We_?" repeated Rima, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, we," I replied. "I said I'd _help _you get Kusukusu back, not do all the work to get her back."

"That's not what I meant," said Rima, but she smiled. My heart did a backflip, like it always did when I made Rima smile. I really had it bad for her. "As long as 'we' just means 'you and me' then I'll go along with it. Don't you dare tell Amu or Yaya or Tadase or Kukai or Utau or Kairi –"

"Who?" I asked.

"He was the jack before you, but then it turned out he was working for Easter, and he had this crush on Amu so she got him to switch sides but then he left and his sister happens to be Utau's manager, and she worked for Easter too but now that they both quit, she's still Utau's manager but way less famous," Rima said this all very fast, squashing it into one long run-on sentence. **(A/N, I told you I've been spending too much time listening to my English teacher, but at least I'm not as bad as my friend Alexa, she's all like 'proper grammar, proper grammar' and even corrects you when you're talking and I think this is a run-on sentence too – sorry Alexa, I know this'll piss you off) **

"Um, okay," I said.

"Sorry," she said at the same time, "was that too long of a sentence?"

We both laughed.

Rima looked at me seriously. "You know that's the first time I've laughed in two days," she said to me.

"Oh," I said, not really sure what to say to that.

"I meant it in a good way," she told me, correctly interpreting my confused expression, and then she laughed again.

"You have to stop doing that," Rima said, even sounding slightly cheerful now. "I normally laugh maybe once a day, and that's _with _a chara change with Kusukusu." Her expression changed again when she mentioned Kusukusu.

"Rima-" I started, but she interrupted me.

"Come over today, after school, okay?" she instructed. "I want Kusukusu back as soon as possible, and you said you'd help me."

"Okay," I managed to say, before she yelled, completely randomly, "Shut up and leave me alone, crossdresser!"

I was only confused by the complete change in character for a second, until I saw Divi and Rhythm hovering behind her. "C'mon, Divi, we have to get to class," Rima said, and as they turned and went down the hallway, Rima turned back and winked at me.

"What just happened?" Rhythm asked, completely confused by Rima's actions.

"I said I'd help her get Kusukusu back," I told him, "and now she's all happy and hopeful."

"What do you mean, 'get Kusukusu back'?" Rhythm demanded, causing me to laugh. I'd forgotten he had a not-so-secret crush on the clown chara. "What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, nothing," I said, teasing him, "she just went back into her egg, that's all. I'm helping Rima to get her to hatch again."

"Well, you better do it right, Nagi," threatened Rhythm, "because if she goes back into Rima's heart, I'll kill you."

"Don't worry," I told him, "I'm not planning on letting that happen."

Rhythm could think I was doing it for him if he wanted, but I knew the truth. I was doing it to make Rima happy, and that was all that mattered.


	4. I Don't Even Get to Stab Divi

**Mermaidcharaakazukin is soooooooo sorry she didn't update sooner but she didn't know what she wanted to do for the fourth chapter and so she she didn't get much sleep every night trying to think up a good way to write it. So in the end, she improvised! **

***And that was my little tribute to Yaya for no reason at all, other than the fact that writing in third person seemed really fun and I was speaking in third person all day today … so I'm officially declaring it 'Yaya Day!'***

**Rima POV**

I'd felt like I'd actually accomplished something when I told purplehead about Kusukusu, and to come over today. But now that I was actually at home, with Divi and my forever shouting parents, I was having second thoughts. What if he didn't show up? What if Divi tried to kill us? Could charas even exist if their owners were dead?

Probably not. I couldn't stop myself from thinking that that was most likely the only reason why I was still alive. Before I could give it any more thought, though, the doorbell rang.

My parents fell silent, and I knew that was not good. _Shit_, I thought, _I probably should have told purplehead to come through my window. _Anything could go wrong now – my parents would be pissed I'd told a boy (even if he was just barely a boy) to come over, they might start fighting and throwing things again and he'd probably freak out, he might ask questions about why my parents were fighting and throwing things at each other or –

My dad might open the door. I couldn't let that happen because then he'd go ballistic and probably kick purplehead out of the house. That was the last thing I needed to happen. So I ran downstairs as fast as possible, but my dad had already opened the door.

"Who are you?" he asked purplehead rudely.

"Fujisaki Na-," purplehead started, but then he saw me (which must have been incredibly difficult since I was standing right behind my dad, who was, like almost everyone in Japan, taller than me) shaking my head at him, and miming putting my hair into a ponytail.

Thankfully, he got the message. "Fujisaki Nadeshiko," he said quickly, his voice rising and getting all girly. "Rima-tan invited me over."

My dad looked slightly suspicious, but it seemed he couldn't find anything wrong with a 'girl' coming over, so he let purplehead in. He followed me up to my room.

"So, where's Divi?" he asked immediately.

"I thought you were here to help me get Kus-" I started, and then realized what he was hinting at. "She's in her egg, taking a nap. She's incredibly lazy."

"Do you have any tape?" purplehead asked again, which seemed like a really weird question.

I handed him the tape dispenser. He took off two pieces of tape and put them on the crack on Divi's egg, so they made a little white X.

"Um," I said, completely confused, "what was that for?"

"Safety precaution," answered purplehead, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?" I asked, feeling like a complete idiot.

"Because," purplehead said, "if Divi put Kusukusu back in her egg, she won't want us getting Kusukusu back out, right? So it's best if we keep her trapped in her egg so she can't stop us."

Unfortunately, that actually made sense. "Okay," I sighed. "Now how do I get Kusukusu back out of her egg?"

"Isn't it obvious?" purplehead asked me. "Kusukusu was born because you wanted to make people laugh, right? And be nicer."

"Yeah," I said, "that's right."

"So that's what you have to do," purplehead explained. "Be nicer. Make people laugh. And the less mean you are, the less you're believing in Divi's dream, so if you do that too, Divi might even disappear. That's like killing two birds with one stone."

"You want me to kill birds?" I shrieked. "What is wrong with you? You have one sick, sick mind, crossdresser!"

Purplehead laughed, which was so not my intention. "That's not what I meant!" he said. "It's just a saying, Rima. It means you're getting two things done by doing one thing."

"Oh," I said quickly, "I knew that. I was just … making you laugh, like you said I should do to get Kusukusu back." It was sort of a lame, easily seen through excuse, but I wasn't going to admit that I didn't know half the stuff purplehead did.

"By the way," purplehead added, "if you want to be nicer, you should probably stop calling me 'purplehead' and 'crossdresser'. That's more like something Divi would say."

"You want me to be _nice _to people," I repeated disbelievingly. "So I can't call Tadase Tadagay anymore or you crossdresser and I can't be sarcastic or anything?"

"Yeah, pretty much," purpl- Nagihiko said, looking really happy about the miserable expression on my face.

"My life is so over," I cried dramatically. "But you said this will get rid of Divi too, right?"

"It should," purpl- Nagihiko told me, his face suddenly all serious.

"Darn," I grumbled, "I don't even get to stab Divi! Now you're just being cruel." The night Kusukusu had returned to her egg, I'd had a dream where I'd stabbed Divi with some random kitchen knife and she'd disappeared forever and everything had gone back to normal. Ever since, I'd sort of been hoping I could actually stab the stupid devil chara.

"You know, you're a lot more violent than you look," Nagihiko commented cheerfully. I kicked him.

He doubled over in pain, but still managed to say, "That's not being nice, Rima-chan. You're making this a lot harder for yourself."

Grrrrrrrr. He was _so _enjoying this.

**Short chapter, I know, but I wasn't really sure what to do for this bit … so I improvised! Now I'm not really sure how long to make this story – I was thinking just 5 chapters at first, but this is chapter 4 and it's obviously not done and I don't think I can wrap up everything in one chapter unless it's really, really long. Also, I'm not quite sure whether or not to keep Divi trapped in her egg (because then how will Rima do the Guardians work and also the other Guardians would ask questions) so if you could review and mention what you want, please do! I'll be putting in some Rimahiko ASAP, I promise, because they're my absolute favorite pairing and I know for sure I'll be writing more Rimahiko stories. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Read and review, please! **


	5. Just Go Jump Out of the Window!

**Two chapters in one day! I'm on fire! And I know that I said I wasn't sure whether or not to keep Divi in her egg, but then I had this whole flashforward of what I'm going to do in future chapters, so I made the decision right after I published chapter 4, and then I had to type it out before I forgot (yeah, I'm one of those people). Hope you enjoy chapter 5!**

**- - Mermaidcharaakazukin**

**Nagihiko POV**

Rima was so mad that I told her she had to be nice to everyone in order to get Kusukusu back that she kicked me out of her house – well, not entirely, seeing as I was still in her house, but I was at the front door, about to leave.

That's when I heard the shouting. It definitely wasn't Rima – both her charas were trapped in their eggs at the moment, who could she possibly be yelling at? – but when I heard a man yelling I knew it was her parents.

The noise seemed to be coming from the kitchen, but I wasn't just going to walk in and make sure, especially since this wasn't my house and they weren't my parents. Then I heard something crash onto the floor with a noise like it was shattering into a million pieces – the X-eggs Divi had destroyed had sounded just like that – and I figured it had to be a plate.

Rima hadn't even come downstairs – could she seriously not hear her parents fighting? Or maybe … maybe she was used to this.

I backtracked, going up the stairs toward Rima's room, instead of out the door and back to my house like I was supposed to. Rhythm followed me.

Rima's door was shut tightly, and when I tried the doorknob, it was locked. So I knocked on it. "Rima-chan?" I called.

"What?" she snapped at me from behind the door. "I thought you were supposed to be leaving! Didn't I tell you to get out of my house?"

She had. But I wasn't leaving until I found about her parents. "You did," I called back. "But your parents are downstairs fighting … I think one of them broke a plate. I just thought you might want to know."

The door unlocked, and Rima pulled it open. "They do that all the time," she said, with a small attempt at a smile. "Honestly, I'm surprised we still have plates left."

"They do this all the time?" I repeated, feeling bad for her. "How do you stand it?"

"You just get used to it, I suppose," Rima answered vaguely, as though her mind wasn't focused on the conversation.

I opened my mouth to say something else, but Rima interrupted me. "That's how Divi was born," she blurted, and then covered her mouth as though she hadn't planned on telling me that information.

"Divi was born … because of your parents' fighting?" I echoed, not really getting the logic there.

"No, Divi was born because I wanted to _not care_ about my parents' constant fighting," Rima explained. "That's why Divi doesn't really have feelings or a conscience or anything."

Okay, that made a lot more sense. "Well," I said, "do you still want to not care about their fighting?"

"Of course," she replied. "I hate that I care so much – every time they fight, it's like they rip my heart out and stomp all over it."

My eyes widened. I'd never felt anything like that before.

"I don't think just being nice to people is going to make Divi go away," I said finally, "because the reason she was born is a bit deeper than that."

Rima's whole face lit up. "So does this mean I do get to stab Divi after all?" she exclaimed, looking excited.

"Um … no," I told her, but I couldn't help but laugh at that, even after the seriousness of this conversation.

In a second, Rima's whole facial expression changed – this time, she looked crestfallen. "So how do I get rid of Divi?" she asked quietly.

I thought for a moment, but the only thing that came to my mind was that Rima looked ten times prettier when she was happy rather than sad. But I didn't plan on sharing that with her.

"Maybe you should get your parents to stop fighting," Rhythm suggested, "because if they didn't fight, you wouldn't want to be all … emotionless, right? So then you wouldn't have any reason to need Divi as a chara."

I gaped at Rhythm. This was probably the first time ever he'd had a sensible idea. "That's actually really smart," I managed to say.

"But it won't work," Rima interrupted. "I've tried getting them to stop fighting, but it never happens. They just push me away and snap, 'Stay out of this Rima, this is a grown-up conversation.' More like a childish shouting match."

"A childish shouting match?" I repeated. "Why would you say their fighting is childish?"

"Well, you know how when you're little you have major fights with people about dumb things like who gets the first slice of cake or what to watch on TV?" Rima asked. Rhythm and I nodded.

"So that's the kind of stuff my parents argue about," continued Rima. "And then they always link it back to – to the day I – " she trailed off.

"The day you what?" I urged her. This was interesting.

"The day I was kidnapped," Rima whispered. "That's when it started, you know. All the arguing and throwing and hitting. Everything they fight about, they link back to my kidnapping and then they blame it on each other."

"You were kidnapped?" I said. "That must have been awful."

"It was," Rima said quietly. "The worst experience of my life." Suddenly, her voice and facial expression just changed, completely randomly. It looked as though someone had character changed with her, but no devil horns or green stars appeared. She was acting of her own accord.

"I don't want to talk about that day," Rima said stonily, "and I really think you should go now. My parents are still fighting, so it would probably be best if you went out my window."

"Rima-" I started, but she kept talking as though I hadn't said a word at all.

"It's the second floor window, obviously," Rima went on, "but I have a little roof below it so you can just climb onto that and then jump off it. I've done it loads of times and so far the only injury I've ever gotten was a scraped knee, so it's perfectly safe."

"Listen, Rima, I think you –" I tried again, but Rima was making it painfully obvious she didn't want to hear a word I said.

"Seriously, Nagihiko, just gojump out of the window! I said I don't want to talk about the day I got kidnapped, okay? Just drop it and leave!" Rima finally shouted out angrily.

"Okay," I said finally, slipping out her window. She didn't say a word to me, just slammed the window shut behind me, and then closed the curtain.

It was clear something had happened that day she got kidnapped, something she obviously didn't want to talk about. But it seemed important – and maybe, if her parents just knew about it, they would stop fighting and then Divi would disappear.

Whatever Rima wasn't sharing with me was the answer to literally all her problems. All I had to do was make her see that, and then I could help her fix everything.

"I know what you're thinking," Rhythm said, interrupting my thinking, "and you're not dropping it. You told Rima you were going to drop it."

"So I lied," I shrugged. "This is going to help Rima, so I don't think she'll really mind, do you?"

"If you say so," Rhythm shrugged. "I'm just in it for Kusukusu."

Of course.

Automatically, I glanced down at my watch. 4:38. I was late for dance practice.

"I'm late for dance practice," I told Rhythm.

"Character change?" he offered, asking my opinion for once.

"No, I'd rather walk," I told him honestly. Walking would give me more time to think about everything Rima had just told me. In our brief conversation, I'd learned a lot more about her then I expected.

Which meant being late for dance practice and facing my mother's wrath was definitely worth it.

**Rima POV**

I glanced at Divi's egg, still taped together with the X. Now that I was alone, my parents' fighting was even louder and more easily heard than before, and I was desperate for a distraction. Even letting Divi out just so she could yell at me for telling Nagihiko so much would be a welcome change.

But I wasn't even sure Divi had heard anything. Maybe she'd been asleep for the entire conversation … it wasn't like it had lasted hours and hours. And Divi was a heavy sleeper…

Of course, if I decided not to let Divi out of her egg at all, then there was no possible way she could yell at me. Or character change with me. Or ruin my life any more than she already had.

On the other hand, I couldn't do anything with the Guardians without a chara … and considering that there was no tape on Kusukusu's egg that was keeping it shut, I needed Divi to be able to character transform and purify X-eggs. Or in Divi's case, destroy them.

Plus, Amu would definitely ask questions about why neither of my charas were with me now. And Amu was the last person I wanted to know about the mess I was in. I knew she would care, obviously, but I wasn't in the mood to hear her motivational speeches … and it was annoying watching her four BFF charas following her everywhere, always intent on helping her rather than destroying her life.

None of the other Guardians had my problems. Their home lives were perfect … even Tadag- Tadase's. Now I had another issue to add to my list as well – I had to remember to be nice to everyone, no matter how mad I was, just so I could get Kusukusu back. How was I going to deal with Saaya at school if I couldn't put the little bitch into her place?

If Kusukusu weren't still trapped in her egg, I knew she'd be going "Look Rima, a funny face!" at me, and I would have snapped that I wasn't in the mood at her. But if she was here, doing that to me now, I knew I would be grateful she was there and that she cared.

It's funny how you never realize how important something is to you until you lose it. I was learning that the hard way.

Slowly, not sure if this was the right decision, I picked up Divi's egg and neatly pulled off the perfect X Nagihiko had made with tape. Being nice and funny was going to bring Kusukusu back, according to Nagihiko (and unfortunately, when was the always-top-of-his-class freaky genius ever wrong?), and I was pretty sure keeping a chara trapped in their egg wasn't nice.

The egg didn't move. Divi didn't pop out screaming. Carefully, so I wouldn't disturb her, I pulled off the top part of the egg, revealing a sleeping Divi.

Asleep, the devil chara didn't look so evil. She looked … peaceful, actually, sleeping like that, without a care in the world. If I didn't know her, I would never have thought she was capable of ruining people's lives and getting rid of other, better charas.

It just went to show, like my mom always used to tell me, that looks could be deceiving.

I couldn't look at Divi anymore, so I put the top part of her egg back on, quietly so I wouldn't have to wake her up. And then I forced myself to fall asleep – so I wouldn't hear my parents' loud screaming, so that I wouldn't be awake when Divi woke up, so that I wouldn't have to think why I'd randomly told Nagihiko so many of my secrets, and most importantly, so that I wouldn't have to think about what had happened the day I was kidnapped – and fell into a restless sleep full of my worst nightmares.

**Well, this chapter is slightly longer than the one before it, I think, and I know I didn't really need the Rima's POV part but I really wanted to write it, so people could just see what she was thinking after she told Nagihiko that stuff. And I think either chapter 6 or chapter 7 I'll tell you all what happened to Rima the day she got kidnapped … in flashback form YAY! Read and review please, so I have ideas of what to write about in the next chapter (that feels so weird, cuz I know how I'm going to end this story, but not what I should put in the middle!) **


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